Forget turkey; now it's time to shop

While most of Orange County slept, members of the Niedermayer family got ready for "Black Thursday." They lined up in front of the Kmart in Costa Mesa at 2 a.m.

The Santa Ana family joined hundreds of customers shivering for hours to be among the first to burst into the store, which opened at 6 a.m. on the holiday this year. Rick Niedermayer Sr., 54, and his wife, Jodi, 46, have six grandchildren and wanted to grab bargains.

Their son Rick Niedermayer Jr. was doing some early shopping, too – before spending the rest of Thanksgiving Day working a shift at Target.

"I have no problem with it," said Niedermayer Jr., 22. "I knew what I was signing up for when I got hired."

Big-box stores and other retailers nationwide opened earlier than ever this year, hoping to one-up one another and snag consumers' shopping dollars sooner. The stores are aiming at a new crop of Thanksgiving shoppers, those more interested in deals than meals.

As the Costa Mesa Kmart opened its doors on Thanksgiving morning to an army of yawning, sweats-clad shoppers, it was clear that mostly everyone was there for the tablets and $97 32-inch and $199.99 42-inch flat screen TVs.

Tired patrons found themselves waiting in gridlock among the crowded toy, furniture and electronics aisles.

The line didn't faze Dora Jimenez, a longshoreman from Huntington Beach. She looks forward to shopping with her daughter, Fountain Valley teacher Traci Hanoian, 37, every Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

"This is just exciting – we come here for the thrill," Jimenez, 61, said. "Whether you get everything you want or you don't, it's our bonding time."

The hot-ticket items offered as Kmart early-morning doorbusters sold out in 24 minutes. Shoppers gobbled up both sizes of plasma TVs, $9.99 DVD players and Android Xtreme touch-screen tablets for $39.99 just minutes after the doors opened.

Despite the crowded aisles, the early shopping foray proved to go smoothly – no elbows or shoving – something store manager Adolfo Lares credits with more than a month of careful planning for the event.

At the Old Navy at the Outlets at Orange, the doors opened at 9 a.m. to a handful of shoppers who casually strolled in to the store to take advantage of deals that included $15 denim and $5 fleece jackets.

Since Bethany Hickman of Garden Grove started working at Old Navy, she has seen the store move closer and closer to opening on Thanksgiving Day.

Hickman, 21, said she looks forward to making holiday shopping easier for customers. "Even though you can't be home with your family, you're able to help someone," she said.

Samantha Del Toro of Fresno wound up at Old Navy with her family to buy clothes for an unexpected stay in Orange County. But she said she isn't a fan of Thanksgiving Day becoming the new Black Friday.

"It's ruining tradition," Del Toro said. "It's kind of like saying shopping is more important than hanging out with your family."

Old Navy merchandising manager Beatriz Nualart, 22, said she looks forward to working at Thanksgiving time each year. This year, she has Friday off for the first time, she said, and wants to give the Black Friday rush a try. "I want to see it in the shopper's point of view, how intense it is," Nualart said.

But she said she won't be waiting outside in the cold overnight to secure a spot in line like other hardcore shoppers: "That takes a lot of guts."

To accommodate those less amenable to the early morning hours, other Orange County retailers opted to open their doors on Thanksgiving night.

A crowd of more than 300 were gathered when the doors of the Sears at South Coast Plaza opened at 8 p.m. The orderly yet determined crowd filed into the store, with the majority heading straight to the electronics section.

"It's all about the guys and gals who get in line," said store manager Louis Jones, . "Our goal is to give them a pleasant shopping experience."